Endocrinologia i Obesitat

Manuel Puig-Domingo

The Endocrine and Obesity Research group is coordinated by Prof Manuel Puig-Domingo, who is currently Head of the of Endocrinology and Nutrition Service at Germans Trias Hospital, Professor of Endocrinology at the Germans Trias Unit of the Faculty of Medicine of Autonomous University of Barcelona, and Scientific Director of Germans Trias Research Institute. He is also serving as President of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (2015-2017).

Líneas de investigación

Molecular phenotyping of pituitary tumors and its application to personalized medicine

The group has been working in recent years to achieve results regarding the potential usefulness of different molecular and genetic markers that could be used to explain the biological and clinical behaviour of pituitary adenomas, while at the same time identifying biomarkers and bioimaging markers that could predict therapeutic responses. The ultimate goal is to translate these findings to clinical practice by including them in the therapeutic algorithms. The group is part of the CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER) as an associated group since 2013 and it has obtained recent research grants from the Instituto Carlos III to develop related topics.

Dr Isabel Salinas participates in such studies as a clinical associate researcher and Dr Mireia Jordà is managing and coordinating the laboratory duties. Our investigators are closely involved with the Spanish Society of Endocrinology registry REMAH (Registro Español Molecular de Adenomas Hipofisarios), established in 2010, for which the Germans Trias Hospital is the Catalan node, one of the 5 different nodes of the Spanish state. In the REMAH initiative, more than 700 pituitary tumours have been obtained and included in a specific database, in which in more than 400 of the cases have clinical and molecular data associated with the sample.

Thyroid pathology

The group has also been working for many years on the evaluation of thyroid function in relation to iodine nutrition and its consequences during pregnancy. Several population studies have been performed over the last decade, either in children or in pregnant women. Position statements have been published in relation to this question and a specific project is currently ongoing, studying a cohort of pregnant women to define a TSH dependent risk score that could be predictive of obstetricl complications and foetal outcomes.

The group is participating in a European project, the EUthyroid project, as the Spanish partner. In the EUtyroid project, Dr Lluis Vila, who has participated in the last decade in different joint projects, and is currently the President of the Catalan Society of Endocrinology, is also co- local IP. In studies related to the thyroid gland, our investigators have made significant contributions over the last 20 years in autoimmune thyroid diseases, mostly through research carried out by Dr Anna Lucas, Dr Berta Soldevila and Prof Ricardo Pujol-Borrell (at present Chief and Professor of Immunology at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute and Hospital in Barcelona) and also Dr Eva Martínez-Cáceres, current Chief of the Immunology Department at Germans Trias Hospital.

Additionally, the group also carries out thyroid cancer research, as part and founder of a Catalan consortium for the study of thyroid cancer, in which 20 different hospitals have incorporated their clinical expertise. Currently, a database has been generated, including more than 4000 patients and a biobank tissue collection has been generated to study different issues. In particular our group is interested in defining biomarkers that could identify biological and clinical behaviour of poorly differentiated thyroid cancer, by applying genetic and epigenetic profiling. A shared initiative with Dr Mercedes Robledo at Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (CNIO, Madrid) is on-going since 2011 in which our local PIs are Dr Mireia Jordà from the basic science side and Dr Jordi Reverter as the clinical investigator.

Obesity

Since 2010, different research activities have been initiated to study the complications of Obesity and its potential reversal after therapeutic bariatric surgery. We have explored the implications of bariatric surgery weight loss in different hormonal systems such as the gonadotropic axis and the somatotropic axis, as well as the participation of the ghrelin system in surgical weight loss outcomes, with Dr Silvia Pellitero carrying out these studies as PI. In the last 2 years a project dealing with the epigenetic changes that take place after bariatric surgery has been underway coordinated by Dr José Balibrea (currently at the Surgery Dpt of Vall d'Hebrón Hospital); in the study human as well as a murine models have been explored. We have recently initiated a collaboration with Prof Joan Vendrell, Chief of the service of Endocrinology at Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona, and Dr Núria Villarrassa at Bellvitge University Hospital in Hospitalet de LLobregat. Adipose tissue of different topographies is being collected and studied for epigenetic changes. Other collaborators for these projects, from the Germans Trias Hospital are Drs Pau Moreno and Jordi Tarascó from the Dpt of Surgery. Finally, a basic researcher, Dr David Sánchez-Infantes has recently joined the Obesity research team. Dr Sánchez-Infantes is a Miguel Servet program researcher, mostly focussed on the study of brown adipose tissu, and different initiatives are on the way including the human model, in which different approaches including thermographic and biological measurements are performed in order to elucidate the participation of different molecules and the consequences of different treatments in obesity patients and experimental models.

Més informació

Contacte

Marta Carrió, Administrative Assistant Endocrine, Thyroid and Obesity Research Group